last

There is no peace

/ EllieJ

Imagine a soldier returning from war. Post-traumatic stress disorder is common among men and women who have experienced or witnessed a terrifying event. Even in the safety of home, the mind struggles to reconcile peace. The smallest thing can trigger an event. A loud or sudden sound. The sight of a certain vehicle. A word or phrase. On one hand, the mind knows that they are safe, but it plays tricks and wreaks havoc when least expected.

The world is, in a way, experiencing PTSD. The truth really is out there. Peace can be found. Somewhere in the back of their minds, they all know that. But a part of them refuses to accept it. It doesn’t look like they think it should. It doesn’t sound like they think it should sound. They’ve become shellshocked, accustomed to things no one should ever become accustomed to. In some ways, it is easier to remain at war.

Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division.

Luke 12:51 (NIV)

We’d all like to think that Jesus’ birth should have been the advent of eternal global peace. But that’s not why he came. He came to bring peace to those who would accept it. But, while some accept his peace, others find division.

Jesus’ message was revolutionary. Be last to be first. Serve if you want to lead. If someone strikes one cheek, offer the other. It goes against everything our humanity longs for—importance, status, acceptance.

Like soldiers returning to life after war where peace is a foreign concept, the world has grown so used to its carnal ways that anything else is completely foreign. And they fight against it.

The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

John 1:5 (NIV)

Unless there is a revelation of the truth of Jesus’ words, there will always be a fight against them. Human nature cannot be reconciled with spiritual rebirth.

Jesus didn’t come to start a war, but he knew that not everyone would be willing to receive him. But while we work to spread his Good News, he left something with us.

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

John 14:27 (NIV)

Read: 1 Samuel 4-6, Luke 12:35-59

Life isn’t fair

/ EllieJ

Read: Exodus 19-21, Matthew 20:1-16

Life isn’t fair. How many times did you hear that growing up? You’d complain to your parents or teacher about someone receiving something you felt they didn’t deserve, but you did. “But, it’s not fair,” you’d plead to no avail, because life just isn’t fair.

Like many things in life, this attitude often carries over into our faith.

Jesus tells a story about a man who owned a vineyard. At the beginning of the day, he went to the marketplace to find men to work his fields. They settled on a wage for the day and the men went to work. At various times throughout the day, the vineyard owner went back to the market to find more workers. Each time, he settled on a wage and they went to work.

At the end of the day, the men who’d started last were first in line to be paid. They got their promised wage. The men who started at the beginning of the day also got their promised wage, yet they were upset because all of the workers, no matter what time of day they started, received the very same pay. Was this unfair in any way? It certainly seemed so to the men who had been working out in the heat all day long. Yet they hadn’t been cheated out of anything. The landowner gave them exactly what he’d promised.

I’ve heard some Christians say that they haven’t received as much grace as others. God didn’t give them as much as He gave someone else. After hearing a testimony of someone who was brought from the brink of self-destruction, one could very well decide that God had given that person more grace than another who had been raise in a Christian home. But it isn’t a matter of more or less. It is a matter of equality. God takes us all—no matter where He finds us—and places us on equal footing.

Matthew 20-16

Let us forego every proud claim, and seek for salvation as a free gift. Let us never envy or grudge, but rejoice and praise God for his mercy to others as well as to ourselves.

Matthew Henry

The Kingdom of God is not a grand hierarchy. Sometimes we look too closely at how certain churches or denominations are organised and decide that is how heaven must be. But in the eyes of God, a brand new believer still struggling with sin is on the same level as the pope himself. There is no more or less. There is simply grace.

Just because we may perceive someone as having received more doesn’t mean that we ourselves have been cheated out of anything. God’s grace is not something to be divvied out according to seniority. It is something to be multiplied, bringing everyone under it to the same place.

The last and the first

/ EllieJ / Leave a comment

At the close of a year especially, we tend to view the world around us with endings and beginnings. With the turn of the second hand, one year is behind us and a new is upon us. We put the previous year behind us and make resolutions for the new. Even though the clock passes midnight every day, we view 11:59pm on December 31 as somehow different.

In Revelation, Jesus declares himself to be both the beginning and the end.

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.

Revelation 22:13 (NLT)

But what does that mean? Is Jesus like December 31 and January 1? Sort of, but he is so much more than that.

I am both the source of David and the heir to his throne.

Revelation 22:16b (NLT)

Jesus was with God at creation. He is in all of creation. And he will exist long after creation as we know it passes away. He is the source of life and that which sustains life. He may be the Beginning and the End, but he is also everything in between. When the end comes, he is there and at every new beginning, he is there.

Unlike a number on the calendar that will never come around again, Jesus will come again. And not only will he come again, but he is already here. It all sounds like a grand paradox. Our mindset of starts and finishes cannot comprehend how all-encompassing Jesus really is, but we can try. As one day ends and another begins, we can look to him as the author and the finisher of our faith—the one who started it and the one who will complete it.

He who is the faithful witness to all these things say, “Yes, I am coming soon!”
Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!
The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you all.

Revelation 22:20-21 (NLT)

Daily Bible reading: Malachai 1-4, Revelation 22

Take last place

/ EllieJ / Leave a comment

To many, I’m sure that many of the sayings of Jesus would seem counter-intuitive. Be last to be first. Serve to be served. Die to live.

But isn’t that exactly what Jesus himself did? He must have done something right to become the most influential (and possibly most controversial) man to ever walk the earth.

He sad down and called the twelve disciples over to him. Then he said, “Anyone who wants to be the first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else.”

Mark 9:35 (NLT)

Above all, we—as Christians—are called to serve. Jesus never put himself over anyone else. He was forever humbling himself to those around him. Not only did it result in him being raised up, but those whom he came into contact with were also brought to a higher level.

If a person is forever being reminded of their shortcomings and sins, what hope is there for them? But if someone comes along and is willing to serve them no matter what state they are in, how much more will they be able to accept the Gospel when it is offered?

As a Christian, it’s not my job to tout my own accomplishments. My singular job is to serve as Jesus served—at the cost of everything else.

I need to take last place if it means that I can draw someone else into the race.

Daily Bible reading: Numbers 30-31, Mark 9:30-50

Disappear

/ EllieJ / Leave a comment

Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will remain forever.

Matthew 24:35 (NLT)

We hear this verse and often think of it in a very vague sense. It sounds nice in a song. It’s great when you’re talking about spreading the Gospel. But what if we look at it literally?

Through this entire passage in Matthew 24, Jesus is talking about the end of time. He speaks of His second coming and all that will take place before He comes back on that glorious day. If we take the thunder, earthquakes, and chaos literally, should we not take this one at face value as well?

It’s a frightening thing to think of heaven and earth being gone, but still encouraging. Jesus goes on to talk about the faithful—that He will come back for them. He urges His followers to be prepared at all times so that, when He comes, we’re ready to go. The heavens will shake and the earth will mourn, but guess what? The Truth will sill remain.

Think about things we deem indestructible. The Titanic comes to mind. Unsinkable. But now, at the bottom of the ocean more than a century later, the ship is still slowly disappearing. The Great Pyramid at Giza. Sure, it’s been there for millennia, but it’s still crumbling. Great nations have come and gone. Massive structures, feats of engineering and ingenuity—gone.

But when all of these are no more, the Truth still stands. Think about how powerful those words are. When nothing else remains, God’s Word does. When the ships sink and buildings crumble, God’s Word doesn’t. When leaders fail and countries fall, God’s Word doesn’t. There is nothing more powerful than the Word of God that you can put your faith and trust in.

What better way to live than to trust in the one thing that will remain forever?

Daily Bible reading: Leviticus 1-3, Matthew 24:23-51

First

/ EllieJ / Leave a comment

I’m not that old, but I’ve been around the church my entire life and I’ve noticed an alarming trend – especially in the last few years. Everyone wants to be first. This isn’t a new issue, but the means people use to get to be first are the issue.

I’ve seen those who claim to have a call to ministry push and shove through the ranks of the church so that they can be on top while others, with quiet humility, serve and are then promoted (or sometimes even looked over by the ones who stepped on them on their way to the top). The world would ask why it would matter how they got there as long as they got there. Do what you have to do to get where you need to go. Jesus would say otherwise.

If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.

Mark 9:35b (ESV)

A Bible school teacher said that we must first learn to submit before we can ever learn to properly use authority. Isn’t this exactly what Jesus is telling us?

Learn to serve so that you can learn to lead.

Daily Bible reading: Numbers 30-31, Mark 9:30-50